Comments on: Behind Our Names

By: Omotayo

Omotayo — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 01:50:56 +0000

well, I do believe that African women do like blogging but the fact is most of the African men think women can only blog about romance or love or gossip about nothing serious, which I can protest to! I do have my blogs, and I love blogging about anything in the world as long as it is mine because it makes me feel feminine, not fighting for my rights on the net but telling the world that, “hey I am an African woman and I do love to Blog.!” well, some of us are not that searchable through the search engines so thats why its hard to find a bunch of female bloggers that are africans on the web but I guess I will keep on searching and your blog is terrific… makes me remember home…!

By: M

Mon, 14 Mar 2005 14:10:57 +0000

Perhaps more would come to light if people disclosed WHY they blog….

Mama JunkYard Says: Hi there M, it sounds as though you had a lot more to say Please come back and elaborate on the “WHY they blog” comment.

By: Wahu

Wahu — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 12:30:40 +0000

MJY my blogging world is my world and other blogspots that l visit and comment on.You know that free speech theory that is never practiced, I am a firm believer of it however and this is the crux of the matter if someone wants to use abusive language so long as l am not witness to it it is the analogy of a tree falling in the forest when there is no one to hear it...... the website that you are talking about l was a regular on it and read the tone and gingerly stepped away from it, l still receive their stuff, which is now delegated to spam or junk. There was a time when their stuff would be followed by the worst porn as if they were in cohoots together and it was for an African female cat or some such nonsense, very explicit very disturbing. Mama JunkYard Says: I remember those porn emails! It was a porn site for (allegedly) Kenyan people. What used to amaze me was how on earth that porn site got my email address. It makes me wonder if our email adds were sold off by one of the Kenyan sites we joined?

By: Medusa

Medusa — Sun, 13 Mar 2005 17:31:18 +0000

I'm one of those contributors on that particular website -now relegated to being a 'lurker'.No longer is it possible to hold a decent/challenging discussion, at the risk of being labelled all those 'unpretty' terms you mentioned in your post. I've watched with sadness the levels our people will stoop to, to strip our women of dignity.. Mama JunkYard Says: Thanks for stopping by. The current state of that site and some of the others is saddening. At least we have our blogs eh?

By: kaki

kaki — Fri, 11 Mar 2005 15:36:28 +0000

An AFB (African Female Blogger) representing as well. I so agree with all you said and could not have said it better. I know too well the website you are referring too and it is sad to see such a promising site which could have been so ful of potential get run over by chavanists, bigots, tribalists and boys. Hence the mass exit which really left the site lacking and it will be hard for it to reclaim its glory. I am maybe more disappointed the moderator let it go down the drain like that.
The good thing though is maybe I got to know good people from there whom I try to continue to keep up with. The interesting thing is that several of us still ‘lurk’ maybe hoping one day sanity would return but as time goes by I stop by less and less.
To being a woman and African/Black in a Eurocentric and paternalistic world *sigh* thanx for starting the conversation. I am always amazed when I meet men who STILL think and act like they never had mothers, sisters and will never have daughters themselves. Life is a trip!

Mama JunkYard Says:Girl I love the way you always have acronymns and abbreviations for everything. I know exactly what you mean about that site – so much potential, so much talent yet it has almost all gone to waste. I long for those good ol’ days when that site was the place to be. I have given up hope of it ever returning to what it used to be.

By: Negrophile

Negrophile — Fri, 11 Mar 2005 12:11:56 +0000

The data may be suggestive of a pattern. Continuing a trend for a second day with regard to the Lone Star State's capital, I recommend Brown Equals Terrorist's "Racial Profiling Data Illuminating, yet Inconclusive" goes to an Austin Chronicle report on police profiling of people of color. Elsewhere: Mama JunkYard's "Behind Our Names" considers names and safe spaces for African women who blog......

By: mshairi

mshairi — Fri, 11 Mar 2005 10:32:55 +0000

Thanks Mama JunkYard for raising this important issue. Unfortunately, some sexism will follow through even on oneÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s blog. I know without a doubt that the chauvinistic comments I have received on my blog from two specific men are because they know I am female. Fortunately, this is far easier to deal with than on discussion forums as the blog is my space to say what I want, when I want and the ban/delete facilities are fully functional

I am particularly pleased the numbers of Kenyan women bloggers are increasing. There are few avenues where African women can speak about the issues that are important for them. I would love to see more African women bloggers and I hope and pray this happens as more women gain access and learn about the technology.

Mama JunkYard Says: I actually thought of you and your blog while I was writing this entry. There have been posts where you have discussed either women focused matter or intellectual topics and there have been one or two men who have responded with a certain amount of anger. The other thing I noticed on your blog, and on mine was that when it came to writing about problems that we are facing there have been a few male posters who seem to adopt a ‘knight in shining armour’ stance. This is all nice and lovely but it also seems to rest on the assumption that when we write about our problems we do so because we are looking for a man to rescue us/solve our problems. I often wonder, if it was a man blogging about problems/hardships would they get other men leaving the same comments?

By: Wahu

Wahu — Fri, 11 Mar 2005 09:37:34 +0000

I am an African woman who blogs and you know the intersting thing is that l seem to walk in a fog of like mysogny(sp) does not exist in my blogging world unless l let it. I had forgotten about the big bad world out there. Mama JunkYard Says: When you talk of your blogging world, do you mean just your blog or does this include the blogs you visit and comment on?

By: owukori

owukori — Thu, 10 Mar 2005 20:39:46 +0000

Thanks for bringing this up. I honestly never thought of this as a possibility. It is worrying to think that this kind of thing is still going on and especially by the younger generation of men. I completely agree with you that behind our names are real women with real feelings. We must fight against being distracted from our thoughts and silenced. But we must also do whatever it takes to survive. It is sometimes easier to go round a hill than to try and climb over it and u will still reach your destination. Hiding ones sex is like going round the hill. MJ Says: I love your going round the hill analogy. Thank you for furthering the debate. As an African female blogger who can count 4 female family members who also blog I would never have considered the issue of our visibility had it not been for your entry. In response to the issue of the 'younger generation of men' it is very worrying but what is even more worrying is that the attack on women is carried out by men of all ages, backgrounds and levels of education. There are some members of the discussion groups who are fathers, husbands, who are probably past their 40s yet they all come online and post as if they live in a world free of female interaction. The other worrying aspect is that there are some women, who for whatever reason join in with this attack on women who deviate from the norm.